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Businesses United States

Juul To Pay $22.5 Million To Settle Washington Vaping Suit 43

E-cigarette giant Juul Labs will pay Washington state $22.5 million and has agreed to a variety of reforms to prevent underage use and sales under a settlement announced Wednesday by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson. From a report: Ferguson filed a consumer protection lawsuit in September 2020, saying the country's largest e-cigarette company targeted underage consumers and deceived consumers about the addictiveness of its product. "Juul's conduct harmed Washingtonians," Ferguson said at a news conference in Seattle. "They harmed the youth of our state." Ferguson said that upon the product's launch in 2015, the company flooded social media with colorful ads, fueling a spike in use and nicotine addiction among teenagers. The percentage of vaping high school sophomores in Washington rose from 13% in 2016 to nearly 21% by 2018, according to Ferguson's office.
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Juul To Pay $22.5 Million To Settle Washington Vaping Suit

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  • Apparently having bright colors and fruity flavors means that you are targeting teens under 18 to the puritans in those states accusing Juul of this. Adults also like those things and it is crazy to even consider that those would equate to targeting teens. Now they can't advertise on social media at all, the one place where ages are explicitly verified by the users. These governments are over reaching big time here. It's sad that those state governments have pressured Juul into this deal 'without admitting
    • Apparently having bright colors and fruity flavors means that you are targeting teens under 18 to the puritans in those states accusing Juul of this.

      No, actually targeting kids means you are targeting kids. You know, like when they paid a school $10k to let their reps give a presentation to kids, including showing them how to smoke a Juul (shame on that school for accepting, but shame on Juul for offering). Or when they purchased advertising on a website for helping middle/high school students with their homework. Yeah, I suppose the company was totally shocked when they found out these places weren't full of adults.

      • Overall it's not a bad deal for Juul, they've been fined 1% of their value to be able to sell the stuff to kids, it's definitely worth them continuing to do so. Maybe they could set up an annual payment plan to save having to go through the courts each time.
  • Can't do anything about the 100,000 dying from drugs each year, but Juul? Fuck 'em!
    • When the fentanyl dealers form an LLC then I'm sure some commission will be after their heads. Consumer protection agencies have no ability to affect street level criminals or non-incorporated organizations that already exist outside of the law.
      • That's why most countries have specialised police departments to arrest & prosecute narcotics traffickers & dealers.
    • by narcc ( 412956 )

      If you're saying we should legalize drugs so that they can be properly regulated, I'm all for it.

      The war on drugs was never about drugs.

  • Here's a better idea: How about Juul provide health insurance to all the underage vapers that it groomed & lured for the rest of their lives, and any new victims going forward if they continue to sell vaping products to anyone in Washington?
    • There's no indication that vaping is harmful or increases healthcare costs. Granted, it hasn't been around long enough to know for sure, but 20 years (?) should be enough time to show something.

      But we know 100% that tobacco is bad. Why not focus on getting rid of that instead?

      In my state, I can only buy 2 vaping products from a store at once. But I can buy their whole stock of cigarettes. I can't mail order vape products. But I can mail order tobacco!

      • Re: "There's no indication that vaping is harmful..." - Are you saying inhaling vapourised vitamine E isn't harmful? Are you saying that nicotine isn't harmful to the heart & lungs? As you say, vaping hasn't been around very long at all & yet the harmful health effects are already piling up & researchers & healthcare professionals are ringing alarm bells. I call bullshit. And bringing up tobacco is merely whataboutism. Stop defending these assholes.
  • 3yr former employee here, from one of the European countries, smoker/vapourer and 17yr IT nerd. I can confirm, earlier marketing was "hip", "cool", "trendy". They looked like Apple ads, and senior management actually did 180Â turn once they knew how bad it actually was. Targeting older, long time smokers like me to stop smoking and vape instead. Not very glamorous. I was there when the President of EMEA announced the Altira 33% "investment". I had mixed thoughts about that. Also, the pods sold here

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